The design flexibility afforded by many thermoplastic compositions and their relatively light weights and corrosion resistances make them attractive materials for many uses, including for the replacement of metal components in many applications. In many applications, including consumer items such as motor vehicles, recreational vehicles (including boats and other marine transport), appliances, tools (including power tools), electronics, furniture, and toys, the appearance, and in particular the smoothness, of the surface of a thermoplastic part is often important, particularly for customer acceptance of articles containing the thermoplastic parts in visual positions. However, thermoplastic compositions often possess an insufficient combination of stiffness, strength, toughness, and/or other physical properties to satisfy the requirements of many of these applications. Additives such as reinforcing agents, fillers, and impact modifiers may be used to improve the physical properties of the compositions, but the addition of such of additives often results in a finished part having a poorer surface appearance. In some cases, it may be possible to paint parts to obtain a good surface appearance and impart desired color and other properties, but in many cases, the poor surface appearance caused by many additives effective to improve properties cannot be sufficiently improved by painting the surface.
It would thus be desirable to obtain a thermoplastic article having good mechanical properties and a smooth surface when painted.
The article Brosius, Dale, “In-Mold Decorating Dresses up Composites,” Composites Technology August 2005, discloses parts made by molding long fiber-reinforced thermoplastics (such as ABS and ABS blends and polyolefins) over preformed decorative films.